Queen’s Australian Series II

History

After the six UK-built 86″ review vehicles of Queen Elizabeth II's 1954 Commonwealth tour, the Australian Government commissioned its own fleet of ceremonial Land Rovers for future royal and dignitary visits, coinciding with the Queen Mother's 1958 visit. Six vehicles were built in 1958 from knocked-down kits on the 88″ chassis by Land Rover's Sydney assembler, Pressed Metal Corporation of Enfield, and originally painted Royal Claret. They differed from the UK-built review cars in having no sill panels and a flat bumper bar, and carried the review fit-out of chromed handrails, a protective screen for standing passengers and blue side-lamp lenses that were switched on when a member of the Royal family was aboard.

Records collated by Land Rover historian James Taylor and REMLR identify two of the six as chassis 1138-00056 and 1138-00058 — late Series I numbering — and two near-identical vehicles taken into Australian Army service around 1969 (ARNs 174-696 and 174-697, chassis 1138-00031 and 1138-00059) are presumed to come from the same batch; REMLR accordingly documents them as Series 1 Review Rovers. The registry's catalogue name follows the common description of these 1958 cars as Series IIs — the Army Museum Bandiana labels its survivors "Series 2 1958", and the closely related UK State Review vehicle of the same year ("State II", preserved in the British Motor Museum's Royal Collection) is a genuine Series II 88 — but the documented chassis numbers point to late Series I 88s, so this record's model line follows that evidence.

The fleet served for decades: one vehicle was used on vice-regal occasions in Queensland through the 1960s and 1970s and now forms part of the National Historical Collection at the National Museum of Australia, while the two ex-Army cars are displayed at the Army Museum Bandiana, repainted from their original claret during army service. Another of the type appears in Australian War Memorial photographs reviewing the ANZUK force in Singapore before Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1972. The Sydney-built review cars are the reason it can be said that the Land Rovers the Queen used in Australia were actually built in Australia.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

The Rover Company (CKD kits assembled by Pressed Metal Corporation, Enfield, Sydney)

Manufactured

1958–1958

Engine type

2.0 L petrol inline-four (late Series I specification implied by the chassis records; see history)

Production run

6 vehicles

Current owner

National Museum of Australia (one); Army Museum Bandiana (two ex-Army cars) ↗

Country of origin

United Kingdom (assembled in Australia)

Status

preserved (multiple survivors)

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Series I

Wheels

4

Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• Series 1 Review Rovers (1958 Australian CKD-built review vehicles: six built, chassis numbers, Royal Claret, no sill panels; information credited to James Taylor) ↗ — Registry of Ex-Military Land Rovers (REMLR) (accessed 2026-09-10)
• Australian Army Ceremonial Land Rovers (ARNs 174-696/174-697 at the Army Museum Bandiana; 112-439 reviewing the ANZUK force before the Queen in Singapore, 1972) ↗ — Registry of Ex-Military Land Rovers (REMLR) (accessed 2026-09-10)
• The Land Rover used by Queen Elizabeth in Australia was actually built in Sydney (six ceremonial cars in Royal Claret, TKD kits assembled by Pressed Metal Corporation; NMA survivor) ↗ — Drive (accessed 2026-09-10)
• See the National Museum of Australia's Historic Vehicles in Action (1958 Ceremonial Land Rover 'Special 88', vice-regal use in Queensland in the 1960s and 1970s) ↗ — MotorWeb (accessed 2026-09-10)
• Land Rover Classic and the Pebble Beach Concours celebrate the vehicles of HM Queen Elizabeth II (the related UK 1958 Series II State Review vehicle, blue side lamps, British Motor Museum Royal Collection) ↗ — Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance (accessed 2026-09-10)